Fetch
by Mona
Summary: A fic started by my friend. Demona recruits Dr. Lee Thal to create a new gargoyle zygote named Malevola. Angela feels threatened by what she perceives to be her own fetch-life. Things go wrong one night, and only Angela can defeat Malevola.
1. The Dark and Stormy Night

"Fetch": an original Gargoyles fanfic begun by MC, completed by Mona

Disclaimer: All characters from Gargoyles are copyright Disney. Dr. Lee Thal and Malevola are shared by the original author and the current author.

Time: Shortly after the end of the Goliath Chronicles

Crack. Flash. Boom.

The evening sky in Manhattan was bleak and dark. Rain was pouring down in sheets. Lightning flashes illuminated the metropolis as they streaked across the sky. Thunder rumbled like a hungry man's stomach. The moon was invisible, as if Artemis herself was frightened off by the storm.

A lone gargoyle stood at the window of one of her hideaways, staring out. Demona was often likened to a storm, passionate and violent but able to relent. At least, once in a while. The immortal being was beautiful -- if something that kills could be described as beautiful.

"They're out there," she whispered to herself. The clan she had abandoned. The family she had turned her back on. Except one.

"Angela," sighed Demona. I let her down. She'll never trust me again. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Her daughter was somewhere out there. Come dawn, Angela would turn to stone and her mother would become exactly what she hated -- a human.

"Humans," Demona muttered. "The bane of my existence." Why doesn't anyone understand that the only good human is a dead one? Even the virtuous Elisa Maza has her faults. The problem with Angela is she trusts humans too much, since she was raised by them on Avalon. I need someone who understands me. An emissary. The gargoyle picked a magazine from the floor. Flipping absently through the pages, she stopped at an article.

Creation: Scientist Plays Deity

Dr. Lee Thal, expert on genetic medicine, has discovered a new way to save endangered species. "Cloning is faulty -- a threat to biodiversity. Eukaryotes are complex; reproduction is more than splitting in two like bacteria. The survival of a species depends on redistribution of genetic material."

Rather than grow clones from samples, the Thal method involves collecting cells from male and female specimens. Extracting the genes, the scientist can create new and unique individuals. The only side effect appears to be an accelerated growth rate, which eventually slows. Though he has never attempted to make a human baby, Thal's successes range from elephants, pitcher plants, wildcats, and several species of whale.

"People ask if I have children. I say, 'Sure I do. Dozens of them'," the geneticist concludes.

A smile curled across Demona's lips. "That's it." She returned to the window. The rain had stopped. It was about three in the morning, a few hours until dawn.

A few hours later, Dr. Lee Thal sat at his breakfast nook to eat a bowl of banana bran flakes. He was in his middle thirties, with a nonathletic build. His chocolate brown hair was graying at the roots.

Ding-dong!

Thal leaped up and rushed to the door. "May I help you?"

Standing on the doorstep was a tall peach-skinned woman in a business suit. Her red hair was in a bun. "Dr. Lee Thal, I presume?"

"The one and only," the geneticist replied with a smirk. "Do I know you?"

"Dominique Destine. I've got a proposal for you."

"What kind of proposal?"

"I want you to make a creature for me." Destine held a brown envelope. "I have samples from both the mother and father."

"Hmm..come on in." The scientist led the woman to his basement laboratory. "I work here at home. Saves me the cost of commuting." He took the envelope and removed two plastic bags. The first one contained a lock of ebony hair. Dr. Thal took a pair of tweezers and placed the strand on a slide, then set the slide in a machine the size of a microwave oven. He pressed a button marked 'analyze', then turned on his laptop. "Follicle is complete. I can extract the DNA." He repeated the process with a piece of red hair, with the same results. What kind of creature is this, he wondered. Fifty chromosomes. Humans have forty-six. "I'll do it."

"Excellent," Destine smiled. She turned to leave, stopping only to hand the geneticist a business card with a phone number and e-mail address. "Call or write when something develops."

TBC 


	2. What Are You?

(One week later)   
  
The laboratory was eerily silent. Dr. Thal was in his chair, leaning forward, brooding. The fruit of his labor, an ivory egg, lay on his desk.   
  
The past seven days were a blur. The geneticist had carefully processed the DNA, first from the mother and then from the father. He had studied each individual gene, redistributing each allele individually. Pored over the hidden language of the DNA and RNA, the way a translator reads a text in a foreign language. The process usually took a month, but the scientist was engrossed in this project, even to the point of delaying meals and sleep.   
  
He ran his fingers on the egg's surface. It was soft, yet firm. The shell felt almost leathery. He pressed his ear to it. Nothing. Not even a heartbeat.   
  
"What are you?" Dr. Thal whispered.   
  
It was a total mystery, even after breaking down the genetic material to the basic building blocks. It was unlike anything he'd seen before. The deoxyribonucleic acid contained the familiar four bases -- adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Yet the order they were arranged in was something else. Where he had expected a sequence of cytosine-thymine-thymine for glutamic acid, there was cytosine-adenine-thymine...the ingredients for valine instead.   
  
All he knew was that it was a creature of higher intelligence than most. Yet, it wasn't human nor even a primate.   
  
And he couldn't shake the feeling he was taking part in something sinister.   
  
Dr. Thal got out of his chair and moved to the window. The sun slunk over the horizon, casting a dark shadow over the land.   
  
"You told me it was done," came the voice from across the room several minutes later.   
  
The scientist jumped. "How'd you get in here?"   
  
"Your door was unlocked," the voice sounded smug.   
  
"You'll be pleased to know the baby's a girl."   
  
"A girl?! I had expected a son. Oh, well. She'll do."   
  
"What do you intend to name her?" asked the doctor.   
  
"If it had been a boy, I'd have called him Perseus. But since it's a girl, I'll name her...Malevola."   
  
There was a crack. Fissures appeared in the egg like spider veins, spreading.   
  
The voice quavered. "She shouldn't hatch yet!"   
  
"Accelerated growth," explained Thal. "Don't worry. It'll slow down in a couple of weeks."   
  
The egg was quivering, then suddenly, seemed to explode. Pieces of broken shell flew every which way.   
  
A tiny gargoyle hatchling was now sitting on the desk. She made a cooing sound. Her eyes darted around wildly, looking for her parents. The skin was a blue-grey shade. Short red hair topped her head.   
  
"She's...beautiful," breathed Dr. Thal. He tried to remember where he had seen such a creature. Was it a newspaper, or some long-forgotten TV show?   
  
It struck him. The hatchling bore a resemblance to illustrations in one of his favorite books, an anthology of early medieval fables. "She's a gargoyle!"   
  
"Don't get out much, do you?" came the voice again. "Never seen a gargoyle before? Typical homo sapien ignorance."   
  
The geneticist turned around. "Where are you?"  
  
The speaker stepped forward.   
  
Dr. Thal gasped. "Great Mendel's ghost!" He staggered backward. Two living, breathing gargoyles in his house! Did that mean unicorns and dragons also existed? Another look at Demona told him that she was definitely Malevola's mother.   
  
Demona scooped Malevola up. "You'll forget you ever saw me, if you know what's good for you!" She shoved Thal into a table. He struck his head on the surface and was knocked unconscious. Test tubes fell to the ground, several shattering. Paper notes fluttered to the ground.   
  
***********************************************************************  
  
(Two weeks later)   
  
"Mother, are you sure this is safe?" A young gargoyle, dressed in a simple black dress, unfolded her wings.   
  
"Malevola, how many times do I have to tell you?" sighed Demona. They were perched at the top of a sycamore tree. "Gliding is essential to a gargoyle's survival."   
  
"Looks essential to a gargoyle's death, too." The young gargoyle had grown dramatically in the two weeks. She still had short red hair, but it was more bouffant. Her skin tone matched Goliath's exactly. Her solid build was also similar to her father's, unlike Angela's lean and delicate frame.   
  
"Whoever heard of a gargoyle afraid of heights?"   
  
Malevola glanced down. She instantly felt sick and dizzy. "This one."   
  
I wonder if Angela had these problems learning, thought Demona. For some reason, the hole she felt a week before had only filled about halfway. But why? Malevola was essentially the same. Not a clone, but they were from the same gene pool. The only thing different was that Angela was the remaining piece of the long-ago romance with Goliath. Indeed, the raven-haired gargoyle maiden was the only tangible piece of her ex-lover that Demona had left. No matter. Demona took Malevola's claw and leaped off the tree limb. "Spread out your wings. Let the air fill them."  
  
"This isn't so bad," Malevola commented. "Just as long as I don't look down." She felt her mother release her. "Mother!" Crash. The redhaired child was now dangling on the branch of a smaller birch. "I suppose you'll cover descending in your next lesson!"   
  
*******************************************  
  
(Three days later)   
  
"Every gargoyle must be self-reliant," lectured Demona. "So here's my challenge. You're going out into the world alone tonight." No answer. "Are you listening?"   
  
"Yes, Mother." Malevola replied, not taking her eyes off an owl perched in a tree. "You want to me to go out alone." She turned around. "Isn't it dangerous?"   
  
"Of course. Make sure you steer clear of any humans. Remember, you are a gargoyle, one of the few left. There are six billion humans. They grow like bacteria. Nothing but a selfish race who want this entire earth for themselves."   
  
But gargoyles build this magnificent city, thought Malevola to herself. Little did she know that her own mother became a human every sunrise. "What will happen at dawn?"   
  
"You're a smart girl. Find yourself a secluded ledge to perch on. Sunset tomorrow, I'll come for you. You've got six hours until the sun comes up."   
  
Malevola nodded. "Then off I go." Talk about leaving the nest early.   
  
Several minutes later, the young gargoyle found herself in Central Park. Perched on an oak tree, she noticed a squirrel perched at the base, eyes closed. She giggled softly and plucked an acorn, then dropped it.   
  
It landed on the rodent's head. The squirrel leaped up, looked around, but saw nothing. Then ran around every which way to avoid a rain of acorns.   
  
"Good day for gravity," the redhead commented. She leaped from the tree limb and landed on the ground. "Why glide when you've got a pair of perfectly good legs?"   
  
The park was almost deserted.   
  
A late-night jogger, known to the park's regulars as Hodgkins, passed by in a sweatsuit. Almost in his fifties, his eyesight had deteriorated to almost legally blind. He stopped, and turned to face the unsuspecting gargoyle, who was studying a clump of mushrooms. He drew his pistol, which he always carried in case someone tried to mug him in the park, and cocked it. "What kind of science lab did this bat escape from?"   
  
Malevola heard the click and turned around. A shiver ran through her spine. "This isn't good."   
  
TBC 


	3. The Mirror Has a Different Face

Several feet in the air, a gargoyle beast growled.   
  
"There, there, Bronx," Broadway stroked the dog-like creature, whom he cradled in his arms.   
  
"When Goliath said to give him exercise, I don't think this is what he meant," commented Brooklyn.   
  
Lexington pointed down, to a large green patch. "Walk in Central Park?"   
  
The threesome descended.   
  
Simultaneously, Hodgkins was about to pull the trigger on what he thought was a giant bat.   
  
"GID!" yelled Brooklyn, who had landed nearby.   
  
"What?" his two companions replied in unison.   
  
"Gargoyle in Distress!"   
  
Just as the human's fingers squeezed the trigger, he felt something shove him gently, but firmly. The gun tumbled from his hand and rolled under a bush. The nearly blind man punched in defense, but hit only air. The nearest park lamps had burned out. Hodgkins ran down the gravel path, not even stopping to get his weapon.   
  
Malevola watched him go, then turned to her saviors. "Uh...thanks."   
  
Bronx growled at her, chewing on the hem of her black dress.   
  
The gargoyless frowned and attempted to kick the beast away, but he jumped back in time.   
  
"I think he likes you," joked Brooklyn.   
  
"Down, Bronx!" scolded Lexington.   
  
The gargoyle beast released the gown hem from his jaw and obediently backed away.   
  
"Pet him," suggested Broadway. "He won't bite."  
  
The redhead reached out. The dog-like animal snarled at first, but calmed down. The skin felt tough, but smooth beneath her fingertips. "His name's Bronx?"   
  
"Yup," replied Brooklyn. "Named him myself." He extended a claw. "I'm Brooklyn." He gestured to the others. "Broadway and Lexington."   
  
Malevola reciprocated the 'clawshake'. "Malevola. Don't ask me why. My mother named me. Maybe you guys know her. Demona."   
  
As if in a stage play, Angela entered. "Father wanted to talk to--" She stopped. Her jaw dropped at the redhaired stranger.   
  
Malevola met her gaze. They stared at each other for three minutes, neither saying a word. Almost as if one was trying to see into the other. Their hair color and builds were different, but the resemblance was obvious.   
  
"It's like looking in a mirror," breathed Lexington.   
  
"A cracked one that isn't flat," Brooklyn added.   
  
"But a mirror nonetheless," conceded Broadway. He put his arm around Angela. "Are you okay?"   
  
"Of course," she quickly answered. "Why wouldn't I be?"   
  
"You seemed threatened--" Vulnerable seemed more like the term, but the overweight gargoyle decided to keep that comment to himself.   
  
"Threatened?" The raven haired gargoyle maiden snapped. "By her?"   
  
Malevola crossed her own arms in defiance. "That'll be the day."   
  
The clan's leader descended.   
  
Angela threw her arms around Goliath. "This is my father, the head of this clan."   
  
Goliath looked questionably at the stranger. Externally, his expression was curious but sober. Internally, however, his thoughts were racing. Sevarius is the lowest of the low. He almost killed Angela once, and has now copied...what makes Angela Angela. Yet, this girl doesn't look like a clone. The coloring is definitely normal. Did Sevarius improve his techniques, or am I looking at pure coincidence? Finally, he asked, "What are you?"   
  
"I...don't know." Malevola was in awe of Goliath, from his seven-foot stature to the air of authority around him. This guy looks like he can walk into a room and everyone stops talking. His stern face unnerved her deeply. He almost looked disgusted to behold her, but why, she wondered to herself. He doesn't even know me. "Last time I checked, I was a gargoyle." The frown seemed to intensify. "Sir."   
  
"Where did you come from, lassie?" An elderly gargoyle appeared from behind Goliath.   
  
"I don't know, really. I'm pretty sure I was born here. The name 'Lee Thal' is the only thing I remember. I don't even have a father. My mother doesn't even talk about him."   
  
Goliath whispered to Hudson, "Go pay this 'Lee Thal' a visit. See what you can find."   
  
"Aye, lad." The older gargoyle nodded and departed.   
  
The members of the clan gathered in a huddle.   
  
"I don't trust her," Angela quickly stated. "She...scares me."   
  
"Yet we can't just leave her here, even if her mother's Demona," countered Lexington.   
  
"Who knows what that woman's put in Malevola's mind," added Brooklyn.   
  
"She seems okay," Broadway commented. "We can't just judge her, can we?"  
  
"We can't let her come to Castle Wyvern with us," Goliath conceded. "She could be dangerous--"   
  
"Excuse me, guys?" Malevola put her hands on her hips. "I don't appreciate you talking about me like I wasn't even here!"   
  
"Has Demona ever mentioned us to you?" Lexington inquired.   
  
"No. She always told me the few remaining gargoyles were miles away."   
  
Brooklyn put his hand on the newcomer's shoulder. "Don't trust your mother. She's probably using you to suit her own twisted ends. I speak from experience."   
  
"Twisted? But she's kind and gentle--"   
  
Lexington perked up. "Are we talking about the same Demona here?"   
  
"Malevola," Angela began. "I'm glad someone agrees with me that Mother's good under that brassy surface, but some of the things she's done..."   
  
"Wait," interrupted the redhead. "My mother is your mother?"   
  
"Yes," Angela admitted. "I guess that makes us half-sisters."   
  
"You're no half-sister of mine!" retorted Malevola.   
  
Angela's eyes glowed red. "As I was saying, I have faith in Mother, but you have a right to know the truth." She looked pointedly at Goliath, who looked guilty. "She wants to kill all humans."   
  
"She hates them, but I don't think--" The gargoyless protested.   
  
Goliath shook his head. "Angela's right."   
  
"No! I can't believe that!" Tears came to the redhead's eyes.   
  
"I know it's hard to believe," Broadway commented sympathetically. "It was hard to believe she could turn on us that way."   
  
"You're all lying!"   
  
The crimson phosphorescence returned to Angela's eyes. "You have no right to insult my clan."   
  
"Your clan?" was the icy reply. "Do you mind if I stand in your moonlight? Or breathe your air?"   
  
"Brat!" snarled the raven.   
  
"Snob!" replied her fetch, whose eyes were now vermilion.   
  
"Don't intervene unless they attack each other physically," commanded Goliath to the Trio and Bronx.   
  
Angela was practically screaming. "Shadow!"   
  
"Daddy's girl!" was the retort.   
  
"Spawn of Thailog!"   
  
Malevola's eyes returned to normal. "Who?"   
  
"You don't want to know," interrupted Goliath quickly. The less said about the flawed clone, the better.   
  
Angela breathed deeply. The glow faded from her eyes. "We're acting like children." She looked Malevola over. The redhead seemed close to her age. "How old are you?"   
  
"You wouldn't believe me."   
  
"Try me."   
  
"Seventeen days."   
  
The entire clan gasped.   
  
She's little more than a child, Angela thought. So why do I feel this hostility towards her? I feel like the north pole of a magnet repelling another north pole. "One more question, Malevola. I want the truth. Who are you?"   
  
TBC 


	4. A Night This Side of Dying

Hudson entered the laboratory quietly. The place seemed deserted. The lab was very organized, almost meticulous. Glass tubes on oak tables were arranged by contents. A bookshelf crammed with college textbooks was in one corner. There wasn't a dust bunny in sight.   
  
"Looking for something?" called a voice. Dr. Thal was standing in the doorway. His hazel eyes widened when he saw the elderly gargoyle's sword in its sheath. "Wait! I come in peace!"   
  
"Would you be Lee Thal?"   
  
"I answer to that name." Another gargoyle? This one was apparently older and wiser. It was almost as if one could take everybody's favorite grandfather, a dusty old chair in a library, and a veteran soldier, then magically transform them into a stout creature with a scarred eye. The geneticist had wondered if the gargoyle-creation project was a dream. Yet, there had been his notes and pieces of broken shell, not to mention the mess created when he had been shoved into the lab table. "Who are you?"   
  
"Call me Hudson."   
  
"OK...Hudson. What can I do for you?"   
  
"Does the name Malevola ring a bell?"   
  
It was real. Thal smiled. "So you've met her. What an awful name, though. It makes her sound villainous. Why, if I had named her, I'd have called her Abigail."   
  
"She seems like a lovely lass."   
  
"She is exquisite," Thal corrected.   
  
"Is she a clone or something?"  
  
The hazel eyes flashed. "Sir, you insult me by saying the very word. Copies cannot live up to the originals. My little Malevola is no clone. I didn't even have gargoyle DNA to clone until Dominique Destine threw these samples at me and told me to make a zygote."  
  
"Demona. Should have guessed."   
  
The scientist held out the red and black hairs. "My creation process is similar to in-vitro fertilization, only I extract DNA from regular cells and combine it instead of combining gametes."   
  
"Goliath," breathed Hudson, looking at the black hair.   
  
Thal arched an eyebrow. "You're from Scotland, right? I can tell that accent a mile off."   
  
"Aye. So?"   
  
"Why the Hebrew name?"   
  
"I beg your pardon."   
  
"Goliath, as I'm sure you're aware, is Hebrew. Means 'exiled.'"   
  
Hudson shrugged. "Connotation versus denotation, I guess." He took the ebony hair. "The average gargoyle sheds about forty hairs a night. I suppose Demona could have picked it up after an encounter with Goliath. So Malevola is not programmed?"   
  
"Like a robot?"   
  
"Subliminal education."   
  
"Of course not! I did subliminally ingrain my name in her memory, but I had no control over her personality."   
  
Hudson's good eye turned to an oak-framed photograph on the wall. Two small boys, between six or seven years of age, beamed happily. Between them was a model of a DNA double helix made completely out of candy. The boy on the left had pale skin and auburn hair. Something about him struck Hudson as eerily familiar. The child on the right had chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes. "That one on the right is you."   
  
"It is." The scientist smiled nostalgically. "That was our first grade science project. Had fun making it. Of course, we had more fun eating it after the science fair."   
  
The elderly gargoyle glanced at the picture again. "That's Anton Sevarius!"   
  
Thal's eyes clouded over sadly. "He was my best friend growing up." He held up his wrist. A platinum watch with tiny emeralds marking the hours gleamed. "Our freshman year in high school, we took all our Christmas money and bought matching watches. Engraved our initials on the backs of the cases."   
  
"What happened?"   
  
"We had a...falling out." Thal indulged briefly in a daydream of Anton Sevarius falling out of an upper-story laboratory window. "We both enrolled at NYU. Anton...changed. He became more eccentric. He had always been a little weird, but he started performing weird experiments. We stopped talking. By sophomore year, we ran in separate cliques. Our friendship didn't end suddenly...it just slowly died. I read about his disreputable projects. What kind of monster has he become? Hudson--"  
  
"Yes, Doctor?"   
  
"Could you let me see Malevola."   
  
"Aye, very well. Just be careful. Demona raised her."   
  
"So that's her mother's name."  
  
"Yes. Human by day, gargoyle by night. There's something I don't understand, Dr. Thal. You had no knowledge of gargoyles before. Why make one for some mysterious woman?"   
  
"I don't ask questions, Hudson. I just do what I'm put here to do."   
  
"You trusted Demona?"   
  
"I just assumed she lost a pet or child--"  
  
"You didn't even ask..."   
  
"I believe in the power of trust!" snapped Dr. Thal. "I don't even lock my door at night. I took Demona's orders, and look what I've ended up with. An intelligent creature. I know we're different species...but Malevola's the daughter I never had."   
  
Hudson sighed. "Follow me."   
  
A few minutes later, the elderly gargoyle stopped at the edge of Central Park. "Wait here." He crawled through the brush to find Goliath, who was pacing. Malevola was sitting on a tree stump, chin in one hand -- obviously deep in thought. Bronx sat at the base of the stump.   
  
"Hudson," greeted the clan leader. "Did you find anything?"   
  
"She's no clone. She's a unique individual made from you and Demona."   
  
"Mine? That's impossible!" Goliath protested.   
  
"Who else could it be, then?"   
  
"Thailog, maybe?" suggested the clan leader. "He had an accelerated growth rate--"   
  
"Don't be ridiculous. Thailog's..." Dead didn't sound right. "Gone. And he and Demona broke up a long time ago."   
  
"Why would she do that?" Malevola said loudly. "I've only seen a small part of this world, but it's so big and beautiful. I'm sure humans and gargoyles could share it. If one tried to claim it all to themselves, it'd be such a terrible waste of a planet."   
  
Hudson chuckled. "Now I'm convinced she's yours, laddie." He looked around. "Where are the others?"   
  
"Angela went to visit Elisa. I sent Brooklyn, Lexington, and Broadway on patrol."   
  
Dr. Thal ran in. "Malevola!" Goliath grabbed the geneticist's shirt sleeve to hold him back, but it ripped in his claws. Thal threw his arms around the redhead. "My little angel!"   
  
Malevola shoved him off. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"   
  
"I created you!"   
  
"What?" she asked, confused. She shot a glance at Goliath and Hudson, then turned and ran.   
  
The geneticist waved sadly, but didn't give chase. "If you love something, set it free. If it flies away, it never was yours."   
  
Hudson looked at the piece of cloth in Goliath's hand. "He thinks of her as his daughter. Did you really think your strength could keep him from her?"   
  
**************************************************  
  
"Slow night," commented Lexington. The threesome were gliding through the air.   
  
"I'm bored," whined Brooklyn. He looked disdainfully at the half-eaten piece of bread Broadway offered. "No thanks. I'm not hungry. So...what do you guys think of Malevola?"  
  
"I just hope she's not another Thailog," Lexington said. He shuddered. "That guy was psychotic."   
  
"That guy was more than psychotic," Broadway corrected through a mouthful of French bread.   
  
"She's got a mouth," Brooklyn added. "Remind you of anyone?"   
  
"Yeah," replied Lexington. "You!"   
  
"Lex, think we'll ever get mates? We haven't seen a female of our species since Angela," Brooklyn asked.   
  
"If Xanatos can find a wife, you guys can!" quipped Broadway as they glided toward Castle Wyvern.   
  
************************************************  
  
Elisa Maza reached for a tome on her bookshelf. "I think I've got just the advice for you." She pulled out a well-worn hardcover book of about four hundred pages. "Sibling Rivalry: How to Spot It and How to Stop It. It worked wonders when I was growing up with Derek and Beth."   
  
Angela stroked Cagney with one hand as she took the book with the other. Cagney purred. "Well, if I can't use the inside, I'll definitely use the outside."   
  
Elisa smiled. "Rest assured, the parents always save a spot in their hearts for the first-born."   
  
Angela glanced at the sky. "It's almost dawn."   
  
"You can stay here for the day. Your father will know you'll be safe with me."   
  
*********************************************  
  
The next evening, Demona crawled into a cave.   
  
Malevola was waiting for her. "Took you long enough." She took a deep breath. "Why didn't you tell me there were other gargoyles so close?"   
  
Demona smiled. "So you have met the Manhattan Clan."   
  
"Did I. The one with the long snout -- Brooklyn -- said you were using me."   
  
"Did you believe him?"  
  
"Well, no. But Mother, I can't help feeling you're keeping me in the dark--"  
  
"Malevola, I was going to tell you about Goliath and his clan. When the time was right."   
  
"What do you mean by that?"   
  
"You see, Goliath and I used to be in love. Angela came as a result of that union."   
  
"Angela...I don't know her and I already hate her."   
  
Demona's eyes flashed red and she leapt forward and pinned Malevola to the cave wall. "Hurt Angela and I will hunt you down and kill you!"   
  
"Mother...you've never acted this way toward me!" Malevola was more surprised than hurt. "You love Angela more than me! The clan said you want to destroy all humans. Why? An entire race can't be bad."   
  
"So you have been hanging around Goliath. He's poisoning your mind." This fits perfectly into my plan.   
  
"He said you were poisoning me."   
  
"Who are you to believe?"   
  
Malevola sighed. "You, Mother."   
  
"Good girl."   
  
"What about this Elisa Goliath mentioned?"   
  
Demona's face turned into a mask of pure hatred. "A human. Goliath's new little chippie. Any other questions?"   
  
"This human called me 'his little angel' and claimed to have created me."   
  
"Brown hair?"   
  
"Yeah."   
  
"Lee Thal. Should have guessed."   
  
"How could I have been created?"   
  
Demona burst out laughing. "Oh, Malevola! You're good for a laugh. You weren't born. You were made. Thal grew you from a piece of me and a piece of Goliath, like a cutting from a plant."   
  
"So Angela's my...sister?" And I'm the selfish one.   
  
"Biologically, yes."   
  
"No further questions, Mother." I know what I must do.   
  
TBC 


	5. Words only go so far

"Boring night for patrol," Brooklyn commented. "See anything?"   
  
Lexington was scanning the area through binoculars. "Nope."   
  
"I'm bored."   
  
"I know. This is just the kind of night for curling up with the laptop."   
  
"Lex, do you think Angela's right?"   
  
"On whether Broadway loves her or the food on his plate?"   
  
"No! On Demona."   
  
"I don't know. You never can tell with Demona. She's got more faces than Janus."   
  
"I guess." Brooklyn leaned on the brick wall. "What else is new?"   
  
"Fox thinks she's pregnant again."   
*************************************************  
Demona stood on the rooftop, looking down at the street below. People passed by beneath her, looking like tiny toys. Little pieces in the infinite fabric of the universe.   
  
"Mother?" a voice called.   
  
The gargess turned around. "Angela! You're a welcome sight! What brings you here?"   
  
"I wanted to see you." The answer was simple, truthful.   
  
"Goliath didn't send you to spy on me?" The voice came out colder than Demona intended. She hated the thought that Goliath knew full well that Angela was the only one who could talk to her without getting killed or hurt in the process.   
  
"You loved Father once," Angela said. "And deep in that dark heart of yours, you still love him."   
  
"I hate him."   
  
"Hate is such an ugly word."   
  
"I..." Demona's vision turned inward. Puck's razzing. Her temporary love affair with Thailog, who had dumped her. How she had attempted countless times to kill Goliath and his new love muffin, only to have them return to foil her again. All her hate, anger, and frustration directed toward the clan leader and Elisa, and as if they were a mortar, she had thrust her heart's flaming shell upon the broken ties. After all the encounters and exchanges, did she still harbor an ember for her old flame? Had she fallen for Thailog for the mere reason that he looked and sounded like Goliath? "Love let me down. Not once, but twice!"   
  
_We are a clan, Demona. Something you forgot long ago. _  
  
"I haven't forgotten!" she cried, throwing her arms around her daughter, one of the few things she loved. Angela...her tempest against Goliath's calm. Her emotion combined with his logic. The temper from both of them. Light and dark blended. Two sides of the truth, with a middle ground in common. Demona saw the stone wall around herself. Rigid, solid. A supposedly unassailable fortress. Everytime she saw or even thought about Angela, a stone would fall from the wall. Sometimes it was a pebble. Other times it was a boulder.   
  
Why do I push away the things I love? Demona kept hugging her daughter, who hugged back. From the fleeting glance in Paris, to the Labyrinth and Coney Island. How the three words 'I hate you' seemed to cut like a rain of sharp knives. Then her guilt over Angela's understandable wrath over being used. "I thought you would never forgive me."   
  
"I tried to stay angry, but I couldn't. I despise your actions, but I love you just the same. I just wish you'd learn."   
  
"Honey..." Did I just say that? "I know it's difficult seeing your parents apart like this."   
  
"It doesn't have to be this way. Walls can fall."   
  
"It's not that simple, Angela."   
  
"1989."   
  
"What?"   
  
"1989. East and West Germany, after over forty years of separation, regrouped into one country again."   
  
"The two Koreas are still separate. It takes more than a ceasefire to make a country whole. It takes trust, which is only an illusion."   
  
"Mother!" Angela let Demona release her. "Father and Brooklyn say you can't change. Don't you want to prove them wrong?"   
  
Demona's eyes glowed red. "Why do they think they know me?"  
  
"I want to know you, Mother. Why did you create Malevola?"   
  
"I felt guilty over using you."   
  
"So you're just using her?"   
  
Sheepish grin. "Basically." Demona looked ashamed. "I guess I wanted to show you I could create instead of destroy."   
  
"Oh, you showed me something all right. She creeps me out."  
  
"In retrospect, she's a mistake." I should have known I could never replicate Angela. "You're the real prize."   
  
Below them, the redhaired gargoyle child was listening in. "I'll show you both." Malevola slipped away, thoughts racing.   
*******************************************************************************************  
"Life imitates art, I guess," Goliath said to the stone statue. "Thailog, I read a book in the library. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Dr. Jekyll concocts a potion to introduce his evil self, Mr. Edward Hyde. And Hyde, the part you played, died at the end."   
  
"I read that." Elisa was standing on the roof with him. "One couldn't live without the other?"   
  
"How'd you find me?"   
  
"I figured you'd be up here." She gestured to the petrified clone. "Having a chat with your version of Remus?" Thailog, even as a lifeless rock, creeped her out. He seemingly was a distortion of everything that was Goliath. Everything she loved. "It's for the better."   
  
"Sometimes I wish I could change the course of history."   
  
"You'd bring Thailog back? You're too virtuous for your own good, Lyath."   
  
"Not that. I'd have made sure he'd never have been created. A clone couldn't survive in a world of originals."   
  
"We're more complex than bacteria, I guess."   
*******************************************************************************************  
Dr. Thal burst into the laboratory. "Anton!"   
  
The auburn-haired mad scientist looked up. "Lee? Always one to make an entrance."   
  
"Cut the comedy, you...madman!"   
  
Sevarius put down the test tube he was holding. "Are you calling me a madman?"   
  
"Yes...madman! I've heard all about your abominable practices."  
  
"Your point being?"   
  
"You weren't always this way. Sure, you'd pull the wings off flies and put leeches in your sister's bed, but look at yourself. Testing on human subjects--"   
  
"Look at your hobbies: saving endangered species and cancer research. You've forgotten what genetic science is all about. It's manipulating the basic building blocks of life! Playing God! Doing what Mother Nature doesn't dare to do!"  
  
"No, Anton. It's about understanding the microcosm of life for the sake of understanding the macrocosm!"   
  
Sevarius threw the test tube. It missed by several inches and hit the wall. Hydrochloric acid spilled and glass shards flew everywhere. "Get out of my lab before I throw you out."   
  
Thal turned to leave. He looked over his shoulder at his former best friend's wrist. "Nice watch, Sevarius."   
  
To be continued   
  



	6. Demona the Second

Elisa leaned against the large gargoyle, feeling his body heat against her own. She pointed to a single star in the evening sky. "That star looks red instead of white."   
  
Goliath looked up. "It looks white to me, but humans are better at seeing color than gargoyles."   
  
"That's right. Your eyes are adapted for seeing in the dark. You must have more rods than cones."   
  
"We learn something new everyday, don't we, Elisa?"   
  
"I thought I had slept through that biology class." The policewoman suddenly stood up. "Look!" She pointed to a nearby abandoned building. A red-haired gargoyle with lavender skin was climbing the side. "For a second, I thought that was Demona." She squinted. "Who is that?" Drawing her mini-binoculars, she peered at the gargess, who crawled into an open window and shut it after herself. "Is there something you're not telling me? Where'd she come from?"   
  
"Her name is Malevola."   
  
"Gargoyles don't just fall from the sky," Elisa felt Goliath lift her. He glided to the fire escape of the top story.   
  
"Demona got a human scientist to make her from our shared DNA," explained the clan leader.   
  
"Sevarius?"   
  
"No. A man called Lee Thal."   
  
Elisa opened the door. "I think I've heard of him."   
  
Malevola was standing in the middle of the empty floor, arms behind her back. "So you're Elisa?"   
  
"I answer to that name," replied the policewoman.   
  
"I've never been this close to a human before." Malevola stepped forward, and in a subtle but quick move, slammed the door and locked it.   
  
Goliath, never one to be deterred by a locked door, pressed his ear to listen and watched the twosome through the glass window in the door.   
  
"So," he heard the redhead say. "I want you to know I hold no grudge against you, or any humans. Not even that crazy one."   
  
Elisa didn't like the direction this was heading. "Excuse me?"   
  
The gargess pulled a bazooka from behind her back. "I'm going to end your life." The voice was shaky but chilling.   
  
Quick as lightning, Elisa drew her service pistol. She noticed that Malevola's grip on the bazooka was wavering. She must not have much experience with that sort of weapon. "I can empty my magazine in the time you pull that trigger. And I'm a sharpshooter."   
  
"I don't care. We'll both go out."   
  
Outside, Goliath's eyes were flashing silver-white. "How dare she!" Taking the door knob in his claws, he was prepared to rip it off. But something held him back. The voice of reason. She's half your size, Goliath. And young, with no hand-to-hand combat experience. If you go in there and fight her, she'd be helpless. And you'd be no better than Demona. He sighed and decided to let Elisa deal with it.   
  
Angela glided toward him, landing on the fire escape. "What's wrong, Father?" She peeked through the window and gasped. "That horrid girl!"   
  
This is not my night, thought Elisa. Trapped in a six-story building with a kamikaze gargoyle. "Malevola? Do you need to talk? Because I'm a really good listener."   
  
"I guess," she answered, keeping her weapon level. Malevola moved away from the door, closer to the closed window. "I don't know what to do. I don't even feel like a gargoyle. Goliath thinks of me as an unwanted guest and my mother seems to think I was put on this earth to serve her. Well, I can tell you one thing. She didn't go to all this trouble just to raise a fool."   
  
You didn't go to all this trouble just to raise a fool. Thailog's voice echoed in Elisa's mind. Is she Goliath's or Thailog's?   
  
"Father," breathed Angela. "You've got to stop her."   
  
"I would in a heartbeat," replied Goliath. "But it wouldn't be a fair fight. Me, a giant, pounding a wayward hatchling less than a month old into submission?"   
  
"Then I'll have to," declared the raven-haired gargess. She and her father embraced as if they were hugging for the last time.   
  
On the roof of the next-door building, the rest of the clan convened.   
  
Brooklyn looked worried. "Shouldn't we intervene?"   
  
"No," came a female voice. Everyone turned to see Demona. Her white fangs glittered in her smile. "Let Malevola and Maza work it out amongst themselves."   
  
Brooklyn stared at her. His eyes gazed upon the snake bracelet around Demona's arm. It reminded him of the situation he had gotten himself into. It seemed so distant, but resentment was still in his mind. He had let himself be manipulated by Demona, like a puppet. Her words had sounded so sweet, the way a talking snake would sound. It reminded him of a long poem he had read recently. Milton's _Paradise Lost_, where Satan, the "adversary" and rebel angel, tempted Eve in the guise of a snake in an effort to destroy humanity. Finally, he spoke. "You know, Angela thinks you're better than this! She thinks you deserve another chance! I trusted you once, and look where it got me. Only an optimistic angel would think you can be redeemed. Angela lives up to her name, unlike you. Your name ought to be Devilina, not Demona."   
  
Demona turned her back, leaped off the roof and glided off without a word.   
  
Back in the building, Angela and Malevola were still arguing.   
  
"Why, Malevola?" Angela asked. "Why are you doing this?"   
  
"I hate you for existing!" Malevola spat, eyes glowing vermilion. "Mother wouldn't let me hurt you, so I decided to hurt your friend. And since Elisa is Mother's nemesis, I'd gain her favor."   
  
Angela lunged forward. The bazooka tumbled from her rival's arms and rolled across the floor. The other gargess made no move to pick it up again. Angela realized she still had _Sibling Rivalry: How to Spot It and How to Stop It. _"Too bad there's no chapter on renegade siblings." She tossed the book at Malevola. The heavy tome sailed parabolically through the air, landing in Malevola's arms.   
  
Malevola staggered, hitting the closed window.   
  
The air was filled with a cacophony of sound. The gasp that escaped Angela's lips, the shattering glass, and the painful scream that everyone heard last.   
  
The redhaired gargoyle had fallen six stories and was lying on the ground. Angela picked up Elisa, opened the window, and climbed down.   
  
Brooklyn, Broadway, and Lexington got to the fallen gargess first.   
  
"She's still breathing." Broadway observed.   
  
Malevola groaned. Glass shards covered her clothes and hair. Blood oozed from minor cuts on her arms and legs. A large shard protruded from her shoulder.   
  
"Did Demona put you up to this?" Brooklyn asked.   
  
"No," Malevola answered flatly. "I did it out of my own free will."   
  
"I didn't think she'd fall through the window!" Angela cried shakily. She reached over and plucked the big glass fragment.   
  
Big mistake. Dark red blood spurted from the wound.   
  
"Tamponade," Lexington noted. "Put pressure on it."   
  
Barely noticing she had cut her own claw on the sharp edges of the glass, Angela pressed hard on Malevola's laceration. Within a few minutes the flow of blood slowed to a trickle.   
  
"It was a pretty high fall," Hudson reported to Goliath. "Nothing a day of stone sleep won't fix."   
  
"Yes," the clan leader acknowledged. "It's keeping her alive until dawn that's the problem."   
  
"I don't know," Elisa commented. "She's lost a lot of blood." She motioned toward the ground. It was moist and red. Malevola's skin had gone pale and she was unconscious. "I think she needs a transfusion."   
  
Goliath picked up the unconscious gargoyle. "Let's take her to the castle's infirmary."   
  
Castle Wyvern's infirmary had served as a quarantine area for ill servants and a recovery room for injured soldiers. Now it was mostly empty, save for a gurney and a few first aid supplies. Malevola was occupying said gurney.   
  
Elisa opened a satellite bag. "Are you sure you want to do this?"   
  
"She's a life. That's all that matters," answered Goliath. "I'm her father. It'll probably be a match."   
  
The detective shrugged, and pressed the needle into the clan leader's upper arm. After a few attempts, it penetrated the gargoyle's thick skin. Elisa pressed the pump. A small amount of red blood flowed into the plastic bag. She released the pump and withdrew the needle. She took the second hose and needle, and pricked Malevola's arm. The blood seeped into its recipient. Color returned to the gargess' skin. "I think it worked." The clan and detective cleared out.   
  
"I didn't think she'd fall out that window," Angela said to no one in particular, looking through the glass window.   
  
Hudson shrugged. "It wasn't your fault, lass." He went back into the infirmary and glanced out the window. The sky was beginning to lighten. Dawn was a few hours off.   
  
There was a groan from the gurney. Malevola had regained consciousness.   
  
The elderly gargoyle turned to her. "Are you all right?"   
  
"If 'all right' means pain flowing through my body like electricity, then I'm hunky-dory," she replied sarcastically. "So what's my sentence?"   
  
"Only Goliath can decide that." He leaned forward. "Your creator said you were named wrong. That you should have been named Abigail. That means 'father's joy'. Be your father's joy. Don't cause Goliath any more sorrow than you already have."   
  
"I'll keep that in mind."   
  
Hudson turned to Bronx. "Come on, boy. We might be able to catch the news before sunrise."   
  
Brooklyn came in, followed by Lexington and Broadway.   
  
Malevola swallowed hard. "You guys are a welcome sight. Look, I know what I did was dumb."   
  
"Yeah, it was," agreed Brooklyn.   
  
"We're all entitled to make mistakes," Lexington added. "Take me. I mistook actors' television personas for the real thing."   
  
"I trusted your mother," said Brooklyn simply.   
  
"I guess you all were right."   
  
"Your mother isn't always right," Broadway commented. "You ought to think for yourself. I mean that as a friend."   
  
"After this stunt, I'm surprised you three still want to be my friends."   
  
Broadway leaned on the wall. "I once played with Elisa's gun, and it went off. I nearly killed her."   
  
"She looks like a fighter," Malevola said. "And she forgave you?"   
  
"Yeah. It took me a while to forgive myself, but somehow I did. We're imperfect."   
  
Malevola quickly changed the subject. "Where's Angela? I need to talk to her. Alone."   
  
Angela entered the room as the others left. "Why did you fall? You could have glided. The updrafts were pretty strong."   
  
"I hate gliding. Heights make me nervous. I could barely climb the wall. Anyway...I'm sorry. I let my stupid jealousy control me. I'm sorry about the other stuff, too. What I said. I should have listened."   
  
"I forgive you. And I can help you learn to glide. If you'll let me. You're one of us, Malevola. If we seemed alienated, it was because we've had some bad experiences...well, just bad experiences."   
  
"Life should come with an instruction booklet."   
  
"Or at least a warning."   
  
"You're not so bad, Angela. Why did Mother keep me from you anyway?"   
  
"I don't know much about my mother. Inside, there's some gentleness and love. Father used to love her. But it soured. He doesn't like to talk about it. I think Mother still loves him, deep down. She just keeps it hidden. She's bitter and vengeful on the outside. I just wish she'd shed that."   
  
"Say, Angela. There's something I wanted to know."   
  
"What?"   
  
"I know next to nothing about you."   
  
"Well, I grew up on a magic island called Avalon..."   
  
To Be Concluded   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. Finally the Finale

"Talking to you's made me realize how much I miss my rookery siblings," commented Angela. She turned to the door. "Excuse me."   
  
Malevola bolted upright on the gurney. "Uh...hi." No answer. "This is awkward."   
  
Goliath entered the infirmary, walking to the window. The sky was still lightening. Sunrise was approaching. "What do you have to say for yourself?"   
  
"I said I was sorry!" Malevola snapped. Goliath turned around and glared. She gasped. "Just make it quick," she squeaked.   
  
"I'm not going to hurt you," explained the clan leader. "Though you have upset me beyond words for threatening Elisa. I want to talk to you. Calmly and rationally. If your mother didn't tell you about us, then what did she tell you?"   
  
"She tried to teach me how to glide, but I'm not so good at it. And she taught me to read."   
  
"Reading's a good skill to have."   
  
"She gave me different books to read. Like Frankenstein. The thing was crazy, but I felt sorry for him. Trying to find acceptance with those humans, only to be turned away. Mother tells me all humans are like that. But how can they be all bad?"   
  
"They're not," Goliath replied.   
  
"Elisa seems good."   
  
"She is. And we've met several friendly humans. There is the occasional skirmish with human enemies, but there is good and evil in any species. Come with me. I want to show you something."   
  
The redhead followed the clan leader out of the infirmary, down the hall, and toward the master bedroom.   
  
A tall, brown-haired man in a business suit was playing with a baby. The infant cooed and waved his arms. A woman in a red blouse and designer jeans was reading from Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen.   
  
"Who are they?" Malevola asked.   
  
"The man is David Xanatos, and the woman is his wife, Fox. That baby is their child, Alexander. The two adults used to be our bitter enemies, but now we're friends. And we share this castle. Humans have families like our clans. Both species have wide ranges of emotion. Traditions vary, but we're not that different."   
  
"I don't hate them. I don't think I ever did."   
  
"The urge to protect the innocent is an instinct gargoyles are born with," Goliath whispered. "Centuries of bitterness and hate have overriden it in your mother."   
  
"Centuries? How old is my mother? How old are you?"   
  
"It's a long story."   
  
The night met the morning sun, ending the conversation for the time being.   
  
************************************************************************  
  
The next evening, Goliath stood on the battlements of the castle.   
  
Brooklyn approached. "Have you decided what to do with Malev?"   
  
"You've given her a nickname?"  
  
"Yeah. Sort of."   
  
"She's not going to petrify like the clones."   
  
"There's that. I don't think we should imprison her. She said she was sorry for what she did."   
  
Goliath agreed. "That would further alienate her. But we can't turn her loose. There's still a lot she has to learn."  
  
"Demona's not going to take her back. Not that we'd want her too."   
  
"Malevola's exactly what I didn't want to happen with Angela."   
  
"It hasn't happened with Angela. I mean, she still cares for her mother but she won't join Demona's side. How anyone can have patience for that sweet-talking temptress, I have no idea. Hey, I think I've got an idea." Brooklyn turned toward the tower. "I'll get the phone book."   
  
Thirty minutes later, Doctor Lee Thal stood between the two gargoyles. "You want me to take Malevola?"   
  
"She needs to learn more about the world, and who better to teach her than the one who made her?" asked Goliath with a smile.   
  
Malevola, wounds healed, came forward. "What's he doing here?"   
  
"Apparently, they want me to take you home with me," Thal explained.   
  
"Take me home? Am I unwanted baggage? First my mother abandons me, and now my father--"   
  
"We're not abandoning you," Goliath interrupted. "You're still part of this clan. If you need anything, you'll know where to find us."   
  
"Go with him," Brooklyn urged. "It'll be fine."   
  
"Aye, lass," Hudson had joined them. "Live with your creator. Protect him at night as he'll protect you during the day. That's what it means to be a gargoyle."  
  
"And when you've mastered the symbiotic relationship we have with humans, you can stay with Dr. Thal or rejoin the clan. The choice is yours," finished Goliath.   
  
"All right," Malevola sighed, resigned, taking Dr. Thal's arm and following him out of the Eyrie Building.   
  
When they were gone, Goliath turned to Brooklyn. "You'll make a fine clan leader."   
  
"I have big footprints to fill," the second-in-command replied honestly.   
  
Hudson looked around. "Bronx is eating, Lexington and Broadway went on patrol, but where's Angela?"   
  
Angela was in the library. Since arriving in Manhattan, she had written letters to her guardians and rookery siblings by Avalon. The magic island was beyond ordinary postal service, so the young gargess had folded up the sheets and stuck them in a bottle. Angela would whisper the incantation Tom had taught her, and toss each bottle into the harbor. The bottle would float for a few inches and vanish into the mist. The young gargoyle took a fresh sheet of paper and began to write: 'Dear Princess Katherine, Tom, Gabriel...'  
  
The End 


End file.
